ESP LTD EC-500 Electric Guitar with EMG Pickups 

overall the deal can't be beat, the quality is amazing im minusing one because of course the fact i would have liked it to be neckthrough and a coiltap for the pickups but I've owned a lot of guitars in my life, a great transition from Fender strats and any 22 fret abomination trying to be something it isn't without a doubt... why pay 3000$ and up for something with the SAME specs, you get a good setup on your guitar, new strings and where its made shouldn't cross your mind, I've played Gibsons and they're over rated and their sales pitch is to be expensive, remember guys price isn't everything.. right here's a professional guitar at an affordable price!
Think a modern Gibson Les Paul standard or something really high end like dare I say a custom... "no you can't compare a 3000$+ guitar to this" right, well at this realistic price and such similar specs why not , made overseas or not this is worth every penny, LTD have never ceased to impress me with the 5 I've owned in this price range. This has two volumes so you can do that killswitch effect you see Zakk do with his guitar on the live album/dvd live at the budokan, a useless tone like 95% of guitars , the 3 ways in a great spot as i never touch the knobs anyways when I'm recording or playing. Why an 8? needs a coiltap, maybe neckthrough construction and DEFINTALY a 25.5 scale! I can't take 24.75 scales seriously, don't get me wrong but if I give a 10 its flawlessly perfect. I'm nitpicking but dont get me wrong this is still a very high end guitar I'd tour with.
Korea makes amazing guitars, Dean does, BC Rich does.. I can go on , a perfect neck , frets where done flawlessly , the look and feel at this price is almost unreal, very high end parts, the triple binding is beautiful.
you find a guitar at or around the street price of this with EMG pickups, an earvana nut and grover tuners that isn't bolt on! thats what it comes down to, LTD can't be beat in my opinion.

I got this guitar from my local music shop. It was practically just out of the box and let me say that it looked amazing. it has the STBC finish and wow! Picked it up and played around on it and it fit the style I like best, metal. The 3rd and 4th fret needed to be ground down a little but not a big deal. I am not going to tell you that this guitar can play anything because of the pickups on it, but if your not super picky you can do anything. I was a little let down by how it sounds on clean. its a little weak, but distorted this guitar is a crunchy, ear killing machine. Over all a good buy and I am very satisfied.

i had a chance to play this guitar while in a guitar store about a week ago...and i was astonished with how it felt...the neck is thin and my giant fingers could move up and down it all day...the XJ frets are nice for metal cuz you can shred real easy...the finish is beautiful...i played the red one...i have an Ibanez but it will soon be replaced by this guitar...i highly recommend this guitar to anyone that can afford one in this price range...you won't be disappointed and its worth every cent.

I played this guitar in my local music store and all I can say is WOW. I love Metal, and lately I've been playing a LOT of Metallica(I think they are sick, no matter what anybody says). But this guitar is absolutely PHENOMENAL!! I own a Shecker 006 Deluxe, and compared to this, I never want to play my guitar again. This baby is FAST, super sharp tone, and looks similar to a Les Paul which is awesome. The only reason I gave it a 4.5 overall and 4.5 features is becuase when you get in the higher notes in the 17-19 range you have to adjust a little bit, but it's pretty easy to get used to, and their is no wammy. But besides that I would give it 5's all the way! Great for the price, and totally worth it.

I just got this guitar at a local music store and I'm very pleased, I had try'ed the Ibanez ART but it felt to cheap, this guitar has a solid "quality" feel to it, my other guitar is a Schecter C1 e/a that I love to but I can't put this one down, in 25 yr's of playing this is one of the best I've ever owned. In features I gave it a 4.5 because the neck access to the upper fret's (from about 17th to the 24th) is kind of restricted for me at least, because of the neck Heal, but I don't go there much anyway so who cares!

I have been playing guitar now for many years and have played many different guitars. I currently have a ibanez rg. and i used to own a schecter and this guitar blows them both out of the water. I mean this thing feels custom built for me. I have the same pickups in my ibanez and it sounds good but the LTD far superior the tone is superb! I run it through a peavy 212 valve king with a line 6 uber metal pedal. 1 sick guitar!

I have been playing for roughly 6 months and all I do is eat, sleep, and play guitar its my passion. I tried this guitar out a a local music store and completely fell in love with it. The tone was great clean or distorted and it was pretty user friendly. Its got the look of a les paul, but a little thinner, causing it to be lighter. This helps alot being easy on the shoulders when playing for long periods of time. Overall I loved the guitar and I'm definitely buying it when I get the money.

This is officially now my go to guitar. The wall in my studio has a Takamine 12-string, a Martin 6, a Gibson Les Paul Classic, an American Strat, an Epiphone Casino and an Ibanez beater - this guitar was added recently and it is sublime! If I had to keep just one of my guitars, I am not going to lie, it would be my Gibson. If I could keep two, this would be the second! It is light weight and fits like a glove. The neck is FAST and the EMG 81/85 configuration is fantastic. The 24 frets are a great addition and it moves the neck pickup out of unwanted harmonic range. The features are 4.5 only because you only have one tone knob and two volumes - not the end of the world. Let's face it, the EMG pickups probably mean that you are playing some harder edge stuff and subtle tone adjustments can be handled with one knob. The guitar is light and the craftsmanship for a Korean built guitar is top notch. The finish is beautiful and the attention to detail is great. I feel like I sound like I work for ESP here, but I really have fallen in love with this guitar. For under a grand, this guitar cannot be beat. The only downside is that the case is not included.

I got this guitar today. It looks tough yet, classy. The only thing I needed to do to it out of the box was raise the pickups a bit, which made it sound perfect. The 81 pickup is the greatest pickup ever, I play through a line 6 uber metal pedal which gives me the perfect metal sound. I would not compare this guitar to a les paul at all really it has a faster neck, skinnier body and its nicer. I played this guitar for 7 hours I did not want to put it down. Buy this perfect guitar [it would be nicer with a tone pros bridge ] you wont regret it!

I own this guitar and I like that it's light, has a skinnier fret board than most guitars I've handled, and it has EMGs. Though having to change the batteries every once in a while for the active EMGs is a bit of a nuisance, it's worth it.